Vendee, La Garangeoire

Our family had a wonderful time at La Garageoire. there was something for everyone. For my 8, 5 and 3 year old there were pools, Fun Station, pony rides, mini golf, ping pong, there was even a circus on one of the evenings. but, mostly, there were lots of other kids. we made some great friends. For my husband and I there was fishing, archery, wine tasting, painting classes. But mostly, we had a great time with the kids.

The Eurocamp and La Garageoire staff were friednly, helpful and accommodating. The location was brilliant with a lot of things to do in the area. A great vacation spot that I would recommend.

La Garangeoire at St Julien des Landes in the Vendee is a lovely campsite. It is spacious and set amidst the countryside and surrounded by trees. You can stay in the campsites own chalet accommodation or gites or can go with your own tent or caravan or stay with Eurocamp, keycamp or Thomson Al Fresco and I think Canvas too among others. We stayed with Keycamp and had a lovely mobile home. The site has a beautiful swimming pool with some shutes. There is a lovely bar overlooking this. The restaurant is top class and I also attended a cookery lesson ! There is a lovely small internet bar - my favourite place ! There are ponies for short rides around campsite, horses for longer rides. canoes on the small lake, tennis, kids clubs, playpark, putting. The village nearby is small but has a supermarket and there is also a nice shop and takeaway on site. We found the Vendee itself not particularly to our liking although a boat trip on the salt flats would have been interesting. However there is a fabulous high ropes course called Indian Forest and best of all only an hours drive away you can visit the fantastic Puy du Fou theme park.

we have been visiting this site for many years now and find the fasilitys exelent also the staff who are always very helpful

La Garangeoire is a beautiful campsite with lots of open spaces, lakes and paths to enjoy. I first visited in 1987 with my husband and since then have enjoyed many years of holidays there with my children growing up and particularly enjoying meeting up with their friends and spending time in the evenings down the Lake stargazing - once a time honoured tradition for teenagers and right of passage when old enough. However we will not be going back. The new owners in the last three years have turned the campsite into an unfriendly place where families with teenagers are definitely not welcome. They are regularly threatened with or actually evicted for relatively minor misdemeanours. There is no provision of entertainment for teenagers or anywhere provided for them get together in the evenings where they can chat and make some noise as we have found with other Castels campsites.

Small children are not exempt from the wrath of the management. I have witnessed them being shouted at by the management and having their bikes thrown into the field opposite the pool for not placing them in the bike racks or riding against the one way system.

In the last few years the number of camping pitches has been reduced and there are more and more mobile homes being installed that are taken up with younger families who do not sit out in the evenings socialising as in days gone by.

The old Bar is lovely and full of character - we have enjoyed many an evening of folk music (provided by a group of returning campers) over the years. Sadly this will no longer happen as some members of the group will not be returning again after their son was asked to pick up bottles he had not dropped. They were shouted at by the management so chose to leave along with another family who have been long standing customers. It was very distressing to watch as other reviewers have said.

In the past the old bar would stay open late so that adults could enjoy a drink. Now it shuts at 12 and the new bar remains open until 1.00 but be warned - the Bar Staff do clean up around you, stacking the chairs and tables loudly and asking you the customers to leave dead on 1.00 am, so that they the staff can have a drink together.

From the rules "Silence is compulsory between 10pm and 8am". Great if you are with small children but no late night drinks around the barbeque when on holiday at La G!

The plus points are that the reception staff are great and always welcoming and friendly, in particular Jean Luc & Marie Helene who have worked there for many years now. The Bike hire and Bike rides are great and well run by Chris. Fishing and Tennis are on offer. The Raft Race is great fun. The pony rides and playgrounds are great for young children and Eurocamp has a Soccer Station each year. The entertainment is mainly aimed at younger families with magic shows, kids disco's, garden games and baby foot. Sometimes they do have local Rock Bands on which are good.

The Pool is the best of the three that we have seen but gets very crowded as it is far too small for the 2000+ guests that there could be in July and August and there are very few sunbeds.

So if you are a family with young children do go and experience the beauty and space of La G - just don't expect the good times to continue when your toddlers become teenagers.